Helpless
by Skeletal-Roses
Summary: Something I found in my folder gathering dust. It's a Marauders based story and I have no idea where I was headed with it. Meant to be a one shot.


Chapter One: One Day Less

"_Remus?" He turned to see James, Peter and Sirius rush up to him. They grabbed him by any appendage they could reach and pulled him out of the Great Hall._

"_What are you doing here?"_

"_Did you forget the date?"_

"_What the Hell mate!" They were headed out of the castle._

"_What do you mean what the Hell? And what date I-" Just outside the corridor Remus stopped talking. The full moon's light shone above them and the beams stopped Remus in his tracks. _

"_RUN!" James hollered. The three of them carried Remus as far as they could away from the castle before he began transformation. _

_They pulled off his clothing before it was torn to shreds and shoved him down into the base of the Whomping Willow. _

_The three followed and James and Sirius witnessed the first few moments of the werewolf's transformation before taking their animagus forms. Peter, bewildered from seeing his friend, one of his best friends, in such pain, was frozen in shock and unable to transform._

_The wolf howled; his transformation was complete. Remus—the wolf—was breathing heavily, panting after gaining its control._

"_R-R-Remus," Squeaked Peter. Up until now, none of them had seen the full transformation of the werewolf, the terror of it all becoming more real to Peter after seeing his closest friend become such a hideous beast._

_The wolf heard Peter's voice. He now searched for the scent of the other being and immediately found the succulent scent of magic blood._

_His instincts lead him straight up to Peter and before James and Sirius could read his motives the wolf had attacked; biting hard into Peter's left shoulder. _

_The boy's screams echoed throughout the hollow of the tree. Sirius jumped and attacked Remus, defending his friend. James ran behind Peter and caught the boy with his antlers, though short, were just long enough to balance his friend._

_The wolf hollered, enraged that his dinner was interrupted in such a way. He charged for Sirius, teeth and claws barred, attacking with all of his strength. The strength the wolf relied on the strength of the magic of its host. With Remus being a powerful wizard Sirius' had met his match. _

_Peter passed out upon James' antlers and the stag brought his friend out of the tree and brought him outside the castle. James changed from animagus form and pulled out his wand and sent red sparks into the air; a signal the Marauders and McGonagall had defined as an 'SOS' call._

_After sending the sparks up to a window in the castle, he ran back to the Womping Willow, only to find that Remus had forced Sirius out of it and they were now fighting in the open. _

_James then changed back to Animagus form and went to save Sirius. Unfortunately he took Remus' focus off of Sirius too late. Remus had already opened several gashes on the poor dog and Sirius had fallen from the injuries._

_Remus reared and growled at James, barring his teeth hoping to frighten his new foe._

_James glared right back into the face of this beast._

_Then it all went black. _

He awoke the next morning still in the shrieking shack. His clothes were in a pile next to him; quickly Remus slipped into them and took a look around the room.

The walls where covered with splatters of blood. Some of it in smears, other parts . . . paw prints and claw marks.

Remus' eyes widened in realization of the past night. The worst thing was he remembered it all. Everything from the transformation to when he was finally stopped by James and Sirius and

"Peter." Remus bolted out of the room, his pants' legs threatening to trip him with each step. He continued to throw on his clothes as he ran.

Remus ran to the hollow of the Willow and through the heavy air, weighed down by the intoxicating mixture of blood and sweat. But it went unnoticed by Remus as his mind was focusing on what happened the night before.

He knew that Peter was hurt. Badly; he remembered putting him in such a position.

Remus made it out of the Whomping Willow. Being pelted by pouring rain didn't faze the boy for a moment as he ran towards the castle as fast as his long, thin legs could carry him. His lungs burned, his throat was sore but he would let nothing stop him from reaching his only friends.

His thoughts were pulled toward the anger and hatred both James and Sirius must be feeling toward him now. They deserved to push him away. They deserved to kick him out of their little group and he deserved all and any punishment they gave him. Everything, all of the hexes, all of the jinxes and all of the glares and hateful looks.

Remus ran straight through the school to the Hospital Wing.

"Madame Pomfery?" Remus called breathless. And though hardly there, his voice echoed across the room to the ears of a black hair boy, his face a sickly pale white, giving him a grim glow.

"Remus," he said not even looking up from the bedside in front of him.

"James."

"How did this happen?" Remus looked at the floor. Ashamed.

"You were there last night, James, you saw that I-"

"Not that. I meant the fact you forgot the full moon." James stood. "Damn it Remus! You never forget things like that."

Remus walked closer to James, wanting his mouth the work, wanting to apologize.

Thunder roared and lightning flashed shaking and brightening the room for a brief moment.

He looked up into James' face. His lip was torn and dried blood coated on side of his head, matting his already messy hair. His skin was a ghostly pale and around his eyes was so dark they appeared within his skull. All of this made James look tired and weak but his eyes redeemed that.

They were harsh. His hazel eyes so dark and heavy they appeared as dark as his hair.

The nearly black orbs held such anger, and rage and even fear as he looked up at his friend. They had trusted Remus and he broke that trust and attacked them. He betrayed their trust. It wasn't like Remus to forget things like that.

Remus avoided James' eyes on his by looking onto the bed. What he found was much worse than James' gaze.

"How did this happen, Mooney," James' voice was quiet, almost desperate "What happened to you?"

Remus knew exactly what happened but he feared James' reaction most to that, on top of what happened last night, it would kill him. He looked down at his feet.

"Sirius is going to be fine but….Peter…" Remus looked back up to James. James had his eyes focused on Peter, his face even paler and grimmer, if it was possible. "Madame Pomfery called him lucky, you bit him Remus. You bit him right in the shoulder. She says he's lucky that not all of his blood was affected. He'll have wolf like tendencies during the full moon," Remus flinched, "but he's not a full werewolf." Remus felt as if he was going to faint. He nearly turned one of his closest friends into a-a monster.

"I'm sorry." His voice cracked and shook as he sat on one of the unoccupied beds and put his head in his hands, shaking his head.

"Remus," James said "I'm only going to ask once more. What happened to you last night?" James looked right at his friend and when Remus looked up he bore his gaze into the wolf's eyes.

Remus just kept his eyes on Sirius. He didn't know what happened to him, but when he got that letter…it broke him. His own father was telling him to stay out. All because of what he was. A monster. He couldn't say anything and the more he tried the more tears formed in his eyes. The 15 year old boy slumped to his knees broken. Sobbing.

For the first time in his life, James had nothing to say.

So he didn't say anything. Instead he sank to his knees beside his friend and hugged him.


End file.
